Wind gusts will fool any motion sensor if it's mounted loose.

Man, twenty years of probing every pin sounds like overkill when a wiggle test catches that loose socket in seconds.

My grandpa taught me a trick back in 2009 with a catfish and a pair of needle nose pliers. He grabbed the skin behind the head, stuck the pliers in, and peeled the whole thing off like a sock, no knife needed at all. I laughed at him right up until I tried it and realized he was dead right. Same idea as your spoon thing honestly, it is all about getting a grip on the edge so you can pull instead of pick. I still think about that old man every time I clean a fish and it has been 15 years now. Some of those old timers just know stuff that no video can teach you.